Technomaly » amazon

Kindle Price Cut?

markracz — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:51:18 +0000

As most of you know by now (and some probably pushed the appropriate “buy” button), Amazon cut the price of the Kindle e-reader from 259 to 189 dollars last week. Some say it’s a response to the Barnes&Nobles move, which also dropped the price of the Nook e-reader, from 199 to 139 dollars. And, of course, it all comes down to Apple, as always; the new iPad has a built in e-reader and Apple could easily mesmerize the bulk of the e-reader market by offering this technology alongside all the features the iPad already packs.

So what, you might say, they’re still cashing in huge profits, as the manufacturing process of e-readers is cost effective (that means cheap). Not really. The people over at iSupply, a company that takes gadgets and breaks them into pieces (cool job) to know how much it costs to build them say that Amazon and Barnes&Noble are not making any money of their e-readers because their new trimmed down prices are equal to the production costs- corporations not making a profit, that’s weird. Well, it’s not, because the move aims to sell more e-books and the money supposedly lost by the price cut of the e-reader will be gained by a huge increase of book sales. It’s a move similar to a historical marketing stunt made by King Camp Gillette, who sold razors at a small price, but the razor blades were extremely expensive.

So don’t hope for a price cut also for the e-books. You’ll end up paying more for your e-reading experience overall, even if the actual device is apparently cheaper. And yes, it’s the same model like the one with the cheap console and increasingly expensive console content.

Via : http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/24/kindle-amazon-nook-technology-ereader.html?boxes=techchannellighttop
Also: Kindle @ Amazon.com

Nintendo Enters The E-Book Game…Sortof

Asterios Kokkinos — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:00:02 +0000

Recently, Nintendo announced the launch of a new product, the DSi XL, a Nintendo DS that boasts a screen that’s 93% larger than the previous model. It’ll launch in late March, and with it comes some more fun news: one of the first carts for the new system will be an e-book.

To be fair, it’s 100 e-books crammed together onto one cart called “100 Classic Books,” which will include entries from Shakespeare and Dickens.

Does this mark the entrant of a new competitor to the e-book reading crown? Well, not exactly – Nintendo Marketing VP Cammie Dunaway has announced that the company “has no plans” to compete with the big boys like the Amazon Kindle or the soon to be released iPad. That, and the DSi XL won’t use the same “e-ink” display scheme as a lot of e-book readers, which would mean eyestrain enters into the equation.

Still, it’s pretty cool that Nintendo’s putting out a game that’s actually one hundred books. Now if only any of them were playable…two player WiFi The Tempest, anyone?

Source & Photo Source: Christian Science Monitor

Amazon eBook Price Wars: Macmillan Strikes Back!

Asterios Kokkinos — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:00:37 +0000

Here’s a simple one: Amazon.com is trying to set the prices of all e-books they sell at $9.99. Publishers don’t like this, as they sell their books for upwards of $16 and don’t want to lose the profit.

You’d think Amazon would want that extra cash, too – an increased sale price means more profit for the globe’s biggest book retailer, right? Well, not if they’re trying to move Kindles, they don’t. Amazon’s looking for a e-book pricing model that’s simple and cheap – take a loss on each e-book to more more of their e-book readers – but publishers are balking, moving from wholesale pricing models to what they call “agency” pricing models in order to restore the higher prices.

HarperCollins, Hachette and a just added Macmillan are the biggest of the defecting publishers, and are unilaterally setting their price points at $14.99 to $15.99 per e-book (with new releases going possibly as low as $12.99). Amazon, who needs their books, has no choice but to go along with it all.

This is good news for Steve Jobs, who seeking to avoid his iPad being outmaneuvered by the Kindle – both are e-book readers, and the one with the cheapest e-books could conquer the emerging e-publishing market. If he can keep parity with the Kindle’s prices (or undersell them), it’ll be just another reason to pick up an iPad.

Personally, I’ll be sticking with r-books – real books that actually exist in physical space – for the time being.

Source: VentureBeat

Image Source: Amazon.com